25 June 2011

Invisible Alteration for Thomas Adés

Internationally acclaimed composer and conductor Thomas Adés came to me for help with an interesting and unusual request. Due to the very physical act of conducting an orchestra, he always gets very hot during his concerts, especially when he has to wear the classic tail-coat and shirt combo. I was given two jackets and two shirts to alter.At first I removed the sleeves from the shirts and made them into short sleeves. I then trimmed the cuffs from the cut-off sleeves, and added press studs to them, and sewed the opposite snap half in the lining of the jacket sleeves.When Tom is wearing the jackets, it looks as if he is wearing a long-sleeved shirt underneath, due to the right amount of shirt cuff sticking out of the jacket sleeve. And he is able to remove the cuffs easily when they need dry cleaning.Tom tried it out recently at a concert in Amsterdam, and gave me very positive feedback, it kept him just that couple of degrees cooler, so it was a big success. (Above pic found via Google. Tail-coat photo to follow.)